122-655: The Canadian Soccer Association ( French : Association canadienne de soccer ; branded as Canada Soccer ) is the governing body for soccer in Canada . Headquartered in Ottawa , Ontario , the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, and amateur levels, including: the men's and women's national teams, Canadian Premier League , youth organizations, beach soccer , futsal , Paralympic and deaf national teams. The Canadian Soccer Association also administers and operates
244-438: A 125-page report by McLaren Global Sport Solution, commissioned by Canada Soccer, concluded that Canada Soccer mishandled sexual harassment allegations in 2008 against then Canada U-20 women's soccer coach Bob Birarda, who was later found guilty of three counts of sexual assault . It said Canada Soccer was "described by many as being dysfunctional and inefficient" in 2007 and 2008, and concluded among other things that "harassment
366-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
488-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
610-960: A corruption scandal and was therefore ineligible to vote. During the bidding process, 41 cities with 43 existing, fully functional venues with regular tenants (except Montreal) and 2 venues under construction submitted to be part of the bid (3 venues in 3 cities in Mexico; 9 venues in 7 cities in Canada; 38 venues in 34 cities in the United States). A first-round elimination cut nine venues and nine cities. A second-round elimination cut an additional nine venues in six cities, while three venues in three cities ( Chicago , Minneapolis , and Vancouver ) dropped out due to FIFA's unwillingness to discuss financial details. After Montreal dropped out in July 2021 due to lack of provincial funding and support to renovate
732-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
854-481: A longstanding practice of major Canadian sports franchises competing in American leagues. CSA does not have a sanctioned second-division men's soccer league; however, they do have a third-division sanctioned league: League1 Canada which was founded in 2022. League1 Canada is contested by clubs from four divisions; these are Ligue1 Québec , League1 Ontario , League1 British Columbia , and League1 Alberta for both
976-587: A new Canadian women's professional league which will start play in April 2025. Matheson and Project 8 Sports Inc. are leading this effort while Sinclair is involved in an advisory role. Six teams are expected to play the inaugural season of the Northern Super League . Halifax Tides FC, AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Montreal Roses, Ottawa Rapid and Vancouver Rise are expected to take the field in 2025. In July 2022, an independent review summarized in
1098-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1220-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1342-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
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#17327810085921464-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
1586-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
1708-528: A specific number but instead evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Also for 2026, the FIFA general secretariat, after consultation with the Competitions Committee, had the power to exclude bidders who did not meet the minimum technical requirements to host the competition. In March 2022, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola claimed Mexico's involvement as cohost could have been at risk if the league and
1830-603: A translucent roof and no climate control. The host of the final match — MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey —was announced by FIFA on February 4, 2024. Although there are soccer-specific stadiums in Canada and the United States, the largest dedicated soccer-specific stadium in the U.S., Geodis Park in Nashville , seats 30,000, which falls short of FIFA's minimum of 40,000 (Toronto's BMO Field
1952-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2074-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2196-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2318-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2440-816: Is administered by the General Secretariat, which is led by general secretary Peter Montopoli and deputy general secretary Earl Cochrane. The general secretary is the chief executive of Soccer Canada, and is appointed by the board of directors. Canada Soccer is a member of the worldwide soccer body FIFA and the North American soccer body CONCACAF and also has a relationship with the International Olympic Committee . Canada Soccer's objectives, as described in its by-laws, are to: The Canada men's national soccer team represents Canada in international soccer competitions at
2562-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
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#17327810085922684-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
2806-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
2928-625: Is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup . Canada's best performance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup came in the 2014–15 competition, when Montreal Impact reached the finals. Toronto FC also reached the final in 2018 where they fell in penalties to C.D. Guadalajara . As of 2023, Canada does not have a professional women's league . The CSA previously had an affiliation with
3050-673: Is being expanded from 30,000 to 45,500 for this tournament). Stadiums including Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta , Gillette Stadium in Foxborough , and Lumen Field in Seattle are used by National Football League (NFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) teams. Although primarily used for gridiron football , with the American stadiums hosting NFL teams and Canada's hosting the Canadian Football League (CFL), all of
3172-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3294-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3416-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3538-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3660-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3782-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
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3904-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4026-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4148-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4270-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4392-555: The 1970 and 1986 tournaments, Mexico will become the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times. The United States last hosted the men's World Cup in 1994 , whereas it will be Canada's first time hosting or co-hosting the men's tournament. The event will also return to its traditional northern summer schedule after the 2022 edition in Qatar was held in November and December. The competition will also occur during
4514-430: The 1986 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament to qualify for the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship , and winning the 1996 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament to qualify for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship . The women's youth team most significant achievements are winning the 2004 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, winning the 2008 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship to qualify for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup , and winning
4636-546: The 2010 , 2014 and 2018 tournaments. The expansion to 48 teams had already been approved on January 10, 2017, when it was decided that the tournament would include 16 groups of 3 teams, and 80 matches in total, with the top two teams of each group progressing to a round of 32. Under this later-superseded format, the maximum number of games per team would have remained at seven, but each team would have played one fewer group match than before. The tournament still would have been completed within 32 days. The later-superseded format
4758-506: The 2010 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship to qualify for the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup . Canada Soccer Association oversees and promotes the development of many youth national teams: Despite a long history of professional soccer in the country, Canada have struggled to build and sustain domestic soccer leagues. They have gone through many different iterations, finally landing on the Canadian Premier League that
4880-540: The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup . The Canadian team also won a gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics . The women's national soccer team has played at the FIFA Women's World Cup on eight occasions (missing only the inaugural 1991 edition), most recently in 2023 . The team reached international prominence at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup , losing in the third place match to the United States . Canada hosted
5002-409: The 2014 and 2018 editions. Each team will still play three group matches. The final matchday at club level for players named in the final squads is May 24, 2026; clubs have to release their players by May 25, with exceptions granted to players participating in continental club competition finals up until May 30. The 56 days of the combined rest, release, and tournament periods remains identical to
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5124-623: The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup , and reached the quarterfinals. The team has played at the CONCACAF W Championship on ten occasions, most recently in 2022 . It hosted the tournament in 1994 and 1998 . Canada has played at the Summer Olympics on four occasions, most recently at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where they were crowned champions for the very first time. The men's youth team most significant achievements are winning
5246-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5368-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
5490-739: The Canadian Championship . The Dominion of Canada Football Association , today known as the Canadian Soccer Association, was founded in Winnipeg , Manitoba in July 1912. The organization joined FIFA on December 31, 1912. On June 21, 1926, the DCFA resigned from FIFA, only to rejoin on June 20, 1948. The governing body of the game retained that name until it was changed to The Football Association of Canada on June 6, 1952. The association later changed its name to
5612-568: The Canadian Soccer Football Association in 1958 and then at last to the Canadian Soccer Association in 1971. Canada Soccer has hosted several global soccer tournaments, including the 1976 Olympic football tournament , the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup , and will co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup along with Mexico and United States. The association has also hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup ( 2007 ),
5734-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5856-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5978-606: The FIFA U-16 World Championship ( 1987 ), and the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup ( 2002 , 2014 ). Canada Soccer is a non-profit organization governed by a board of directors consisting of 14 directors: a President, Vice President, six elected directors, and six appointed or independent directors. Each of the six elected directors is elected from one of six geographic regions. The board must include at least three men and three women. Canada Soccer
6100-549: The FIFA World Cup on two occasions, in 1986 , and 2022 . They have yet to make it through to the knockout stages. By qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup , Canada ended a 36-year drought. Canada with Mexico and the United States will jointly host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the first 48-team event. Canada have played at the CONCACAF Gold Cup on eighteen occasions, most recently in 2021 . They co-hosted
6222-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
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#17327810085926344-439: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
6466-442: The OFC a guaranteed berth in the final tournament for the first time: the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first tournament in which all six confederations have at least one guaranteed berth. This will also be the first time since the 2010 edition in which all continents have a team qualified for the World Cup finals. The match schedule, including the venue for the final, was revealed on February 4, 2024, 3:00 p.m. EST , from
6588-420: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6710-482: The Olympic Stadium , Vancouver rejoined the bid as a candidate city in April 2022, bringing the total number to 24 venues, each in its own city or metropolitan area. On June 16, 2022, the sixteen host cities (2 in Canada, 3 in Mexico, 11 in the United States) were announced by FIFA : Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Guadalajara, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Monterrey, Mexico City, Toronto, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Miami. Eight of
6832-436: The Telemundo Center in Miami . However, only the venues and dates were confirmed for the matches, with no information regarding group assignments. Venue assignments for specific group stage pairings, as well as kick-off times, will be confirmed following the final draw, allowing for more matches to be scheduled at favorable times for global audiences. The geographical regions were updated with Atlanta and Miami moved to
6954-520: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
7076-420: The United States semiquincentennial birthday . Argentina is the defending champion , having won its third title in 2022. The general idea of expanding the tournament had been suggested as early as 2013 by then- UEFA president Michel Platini , and also in 2016 by FIFA president Gianni Infantino . Opponents of the proposal argued that the number of games played was already at an unacceptable level, that
7198-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
7320-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
7442-408: The Azteca is the only stadium in this tournament that was used in the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cups. Due to FIFA's rules on stadium sponsorships , most of the venues will use alternative names for the duration of the tournament, given here in parentheses. Base camps will be used by the 48 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. In June 2024, FIFA announced
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#17327810085927564-431: The Canadian and American stadiums have been used on numerous occasions for soccer and are also designed to host that sport. Mexico City is the only capital of the three host nations chosen as a venue site, with Ottawa and Washington, D.C. , joining Bonn ( West Germany, 1974 ) and Tokyo ( Japan, 2002 ) as the only capital cities not selected to host World Cup matches. Washington was a host city candidate but, due to
7686-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
7808-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
7930-728: The Central region with 24 matches, three groups in the Western region, and the rest in the Eastern region with a shared-region group with Canada. Cities were split into three regions: the Western Region (Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles), the Central Region (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City), and the Eastern Region (Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey). On June 13, 2024, FIFA released an updated match schedule, with specific pairings assigned to venues for knockout stage matches. In addition, group stage matches were assigned to specific groups (though match pairings for non-host groups will not be assigned to specific fixtures until after
8052-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
8174-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
8296-412: The Monterrey emblem featuring imagery of the Cerro de la Silla mountain, and Toronto featuring the city skyline and CN Tower ). Reaction to the logo from the initial unveiling was largely negative, with many feeling that the design was either unfinished or uncreative compared to the emblems of past FIFA World Cup tournaments. By contrast, United States national team player Jesús Ferreira described
8418-412: The U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) where some Canada women's national soccer team players were assigned to NWSL clubs. This affiliation ended after the 2021 season when the allocation system was abolished, although many Canadians continue to play in the American league. In 2022, former national team player Diana Matheson and then national team captain Christine Sinclair announced
8540-425: The United States. The tournament will be the first hosted by three nations and the first North American World Cup since 1994 . This tournament will be the first to include 48 teams, expanded from 32. The United 2026 bid beat a rival bid by Morocco during a final vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow . It will be the first World Cup since 2002 to be hosted by more than one nation. With its past hosting of
8662-427: The confederation of the host countries ( CONCACAF ). Two of the teams will be seeded based on the World Rankings , and they will play the winners of two knockout games between the four unseeded teams for the two FIFA World Cup berths. The four-game tournament is to be played in one or more of the host countries, and will also be used as a test event for the FIFA World Cup. The ratification of slot allocation also gives
8784-498: The confederation of the second-to-last host of the FIFA World Cup in the event that none of the received bids fulfill the strict technical and financial requirements. In March 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that "Europe ( UEFA ) and Asia ( AFC ) are excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively." Therefore, the 2026 World Cup could be hosted by one of
8906-517: The continental confederations. Originally, it was set that bids to be host would not be allowed from countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments. It was temporarily changed to only prohibit countries belonging to the confederation that hosted the previous World Cup from bidding to host the following tournament, before the rule was changed back to its prior state of two World Cups. The FIFA Council made an exception to potentially grant eligibility to member associations of
9028-542: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French 2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup , marketed as FIFA World Cup 26 , will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup , the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA . The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026. It will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico, and
9150-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
9272-776: The eastern region. The opening match was announced to include Mexico, taking place on June 11, 2026, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City . The opening match involving Canada will take place on June 12 at BMO Field in Toronto , while the opening game for the U.S. will take place on the same day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood . Each host nation was scheduled to play its three matches in the group stage within its own country. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas , will host
9394-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
9516-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
9638-626: The emblem as "beautiful". On February 12, 2015, FIFA renewed the U.S. and Canadian broadcasting rights contracts for Fox, Telemundo, and CTV/TSN parent company Bell Media to cover 2026, without accepting any other bids. A report in The New York Times asserted that this extension was intended as compensation for the rescheduling of the 2022 World Cup to November–December rather than its traditional June–July scheduling, as it created considerable conflicts with major professional sports leagues that are normally in their offseasons during
9760-473: The expansion would dilute the quality of the games, and that the decision was driven by political rather than sporting concerns, accusing Infantino of using the promise of bringing more countries to the World Cup to win his election. Starting with this edition, the FIFA World Cup expanded to 48 teams, an increase of 16 from the previous 7 tournaments. The teams will be split into 12 groups of 4 teams, with
9882-518: The federation had not responded quickly to the Querétaro–Atlas riot between rival fans that left 26 spectators injured and resulted in 14 arrests. Arriola said FIFA was "shocked" by the incident but Infantino was satisfied with the sanctions handed down against Querétaro. Canada, Mexico, and the United States had all publicly considered bidding for the tournament separately, but the United joint bid
10004-651: The final draw). Prior to the final draw, stadiums were assigned to specific groups. Following the final draw, pairings will be allocated to specific matches, and the kick-off times will be confirmed. The official emblem and brand identity was unveiled on May 17, 2023, at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles , California ; its basic form consists of a stacked "26" with an image of the FIFA World Cup Trophy in front of it (marking
10126-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
10248-473: The first time that the trophy has been depicted in a World Cup emblem as a photo, as opposed to a stylized representation), but it is designed to be adaptable to different backdrops. The next day, FIFA unveiled variants of the emblem for each of the host cities, which feature color variants and designs that reflect local landscapes or culture (with the Los Angeles emblem featuring a stylized sun and wave ,
10370-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
10492-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
10614-449: The group stage, although even then some risk of collusion would remain, and a possibility would emerge of teams deliberately losing shootouts to eliminate a rival. To address these concerns, FIFA continued considering alternative formats – a process that ended with the 2023 announcement that the format would be 12 groups of 4 teams. The FIFA Council went back and forth between 2013 and 2017 on limitations within hosting rotation based on
10736-429: The hotels and training sites for each participating team; additional potential sites were later announced in November. The United Bid personnel anticipated that all three host countries would be awarded automatic berths. On August 31, 2022, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that six CONCACAF teams will qualify for the World Cup, with Canada, Mexico, and the United States automatically qualifying as hosts. This
10858-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
10980-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
11102-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
11224-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
11346-537: The men's and women's divisions. In 2022, Toronto FC II and Whitecaps FC 2 began play in MLS Next Pro , a USSF-sanctioned third-division league. At the professional level, Canada's domestic cup is the Canadian Championship . Founded in 2008, the Canadian Championship is an annual tournament contested by Canadian professional teams and the champions of each League1 Canada division. The winner
11468-658: The most matches of any venue at the tournament with nine. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey , will host the final on July 19. The United States will host 78 matches, including the quarterfinals onward, while Canada and Mexico will each host 13. Each tournament venue, except for the Estadio Akron , will host at least one knockout stage fixture. Host cities were geographically grouped to optimize travel for teams and fans, except Canada and its opening-game opponent in Toronto. 4 out of 12 groups were allocated for
11590-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
11712-589: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
11834-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
11956-418: The poor state of FedExField , combined its bid with nearby Baltimore 's, which was also unsuccessful. Other cities eliminated from the final hosting list were Cincinnati , Denver , Nashville , Orlando , and Edmonton . Ottawa's candidate venue, TD Place Stadium , was eliminated early on due to insufficient capacity. None of the stadiums used in the 1994 FIFA World Cup will be used in this tournament, and
12078-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
12200-503: The remaining four confederations: CONCACAF (North America; last hosted in 1994 ), CAF (Africa; last hosted in 2010 ), CONMEBOL (South America; last hosted in 2014 ), or OFC (Oceania, never hosted before), or potentially by UEFA in case no bid from those four met the requirements. Co-hosting the FIFA World Cup—which had been banned by FIFA after the 2002 World Cup —was approved for the 2026 World Cup, though not limited to
12322-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
12444-401: The senior men's level. Their most significant achievements are winning the 1985 CONCACAF Championship to qualify for the 1986 FIFA World Cup , winning the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup to qualify for the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup . A Canadian club team also won a gold medal in the 1904 Summer Olympics . The men's national soccer team have played at
12566-406: The sixteen chosen stadiums have permanent artificial turf surfaces that are planned to be replaced with grass under the direction of FIFA and a University of Tennessee – Michigan State University research team. Four venues (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Vancouver) are indoor stadiums that use retractable roof systems, all equipped with climate control while a fifth, Los Angeles, is open-air but has
12688-501: The top 2 of each group and the 8 best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32, as approved by the FIFA Council on March 14, 2023. This is set to be the first expansion and format change since 1998 . The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. The tournament will last 39 days, an increase from 32 days of
12810-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
12932-457: The tournament in 2015 , where they finished 4th in their group, and did not advance to the knockout stage. The Canada women's national soccer team represents Canada in international women's soccer competitions at the senior women's level. Its most significant achievements are winning the 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship to qualify for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup , and winning the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying to qualify for
13054-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
13176-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
13298-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
13420-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
13542-462: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
13664-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
13786-506: Was announced on April 10, 2017. The voting took place on June 13, 2018, during the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow , and it was opened to all 203 eligible members. The United bid won with 134 valid ballots, while the Morocco bid received 65 valid ballots. Iran voted for the option "None of the bids", while Cuba, Slovenia, and Spain abstained from voting. Ghana was suspended by FIFA due to
13908-401: Was chosen over three other proposals, ranging from 40 to 48 teams, from 76 to 88 matches, and from one to four minimum matches per team. Critics of the later-superseded format argued that the use of three-team groups with two teams progressing significantly increased the risk of collusion between teams. This prompted FIFA to suggest that penalty shoot-outs may be used to prevent draws in
14030-549: Was confirmed by the FIFA Council on February 14, 2023. Immediately prior to the 67th FIFA Congress , the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation in a meeting in Manama , Bahrain. This includes an intercontinental playoff tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup spots. The six teams in the playoffs will comprise one team from each confederation excluding UEFA , and one additional team from
14152-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
14274-679: Was founded in 2019. The Canadian Premier League (CPL) is the top division of soccer in Canada. It is the only fully professional, and only fully national league in the system. Founded in 2019, the CPL is composed of eight teams and is sanctioned by the CSA. There are also three Canadian teams which play in Major League Soccer , the first-division league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation , reflecting
14396-463: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
14518-652: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
14640-420: Was not a priority issue amongst the senior Canadian Soccer Association leadership team" at the time. In 2022, Canada Soccer's then newly appointed Secretary General Earl Cochrane said: "We are going to be leaders in this safe sport – through policy, practice, programs." French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
14762-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
14884-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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